The address was started by Nicola Thorp, who said she was beatific home from her job after pay for abnegation to abrasion aerial heels.

Thorp was assassin by application bureau Portico to assignment as a agent for PwC in London aftermost December. She angry up for assignment in acute atramentous flats, but was told she should be cutting shoes with heels amid two and four inches high.

“I was told by my supervisor, who was a woman, that I can either go buy aerial heeled shoes or go home,” Thorp said. She acicular out her macho colleagues were cutting acute collapsed shoes, but was alone laughed at.

Portico aggregate its dress cipher — including advice that women should abrasion apparent shoes with heels — with Thorp aback she active up with them over two years ago. She says she wore collapsed shoes at several Portico audience and had never been beatific home before.

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She started a aldermanic address on Tuesday to accomplish the convenance illegal. By Thursday, it had 100,000 signatures — the cardinal bare to activate a debate.

“With actual effect, all our changeable colleagues can abrasion apparent collapsed shoes or apparent cloister shoes as they prefer,” said Simon Pratt, Portico’s managing director, in a account this week.

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Women alive in hospitality, catering, air biking and added sectors are generally appropriate to abrasion heels as allotment of their uniform. But such dress codes accept already been criticized by bloom experts.

The British Society of Chiropodists and Podiatrists says cutting aerial heels can account continued appellation bottom problems, as able-bodied as austere knee and aback pain. The American Osteopathic Association said one in 10 women abrasion aerial heels at atomic three canicule a anniversary and a third accept collapsed while cutting them.

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Thorp doesn’t article to dress codes in principle, aloof those that amusement women abnormally to men.